All part of the same ongoing review

Electrical retail giant DSGi has denied a report that suggests the firm has put its unprofitable European store chain Electro World up for sale.

According to the Sunday Times, DSGi, which owns PC World and Currys in the UK and has a number of well-known electrical store brands throughout Europe, is in the process of selling off its loss-making Electro World division.

More Reading

However, DSGi said in a statement this morning that “reviews are ongoing” as part of its Renewal and Transformation Programme brought in earlier this year by the company’s newly-installed CEO John Browett in an effort to turn around DSGi’s poor run of trading.

“This [programme] will take some time, these reviews are ongoing, and there have been no firm conclusions,” said a DSGi spokesman. “There is unlikely to be any further update much before the end of the Group's financial year in April 2009."

But DSGi declined to specifically comment on the fate of Euro World, which has stores in Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Greece and Turkey.

“We announced what we were doing in May, there has been no update since that time, and we don't comment on rumour and speculation,” said the spokesman.

The Sunday Times report claimed that the retailer had hired a small corporate finance firm, Saski Partners, to hunt down buyers for Euro World.

DSGi has spent much of the year navel-gazing as it attempts to turn fortunes around. Since December 2007 it has issued two separate profit warnings about its struggling retail empire.

In May Browett revealed plans to overhaul the firm's PC World computer barns and slash its fleet of High Street shops as part of its turnaround strategy.

DSGi shares have dramatically tumbled in value over the past 12 months, currently down 68.28 per cent compared to this time last year. ®